Agitator bearing for paint drums



Aug. 28, 1956 M. w. WOODMAN AGITATOR BEARING FOR PAINT DRUMS Filed July'27, 1953 iNVENTOR Melvin 7V. Woodman BY aw, 026x2 TORNEYS United States Patent AGITATOR BEARING FOR PAINT DRUMS Melvin W. Woodman, Cleveland, Ohio Application July 27, 1953, Serial No. 370,448

1 Claim. (Cl. 259-107 This invention relates to an agitator bearing structure for a sheet metal paint-mixing container or the like.

Barrels or drums for paint and/or other liquid mixtures that contain materials which tend to settle to the bottom by gravity are commonly provided with a rotary agitator which may be anchored to the bottom and which can be operated to agitate the material before use. Since the application of considerable force is often necessary to operate such an agitator, it is necessary to provide a bearing for the upright drive shaft of the rotary agitator on the top head of the sheet metal container.

In order to furnish an economical resilient hearing which can .be manufactured at small cost and which can be quickly and easily attached to the top head, the bearing structure of the present invention is provided by a coil spring of frustoconical form that has gripping engagement with the top head of the sheet metal container. Said coil spring has a substantially circular upper base portion for attachment to the head and a substantially circular lower portion of less diameter than the base portion that serves as the shaft hearing. The top head of the container has an annular flange extending downwardly therefrom and forming the margin of a central opening in said top head through which an external driving means, such as a hand crank, may be inserted to rotate the agitator. The upper base portion of the coil spring is sprung over a portion of the annular flange that projects radially outwardly from the lower end of said annular flange into gripping engagement with the annular flange, and the lower portion of the spring forms a substantially circular resilient bearing for the drive shaft.

The present invention has for its object to provide a mounting for the drive shaft of a rotary agitator on the top head of a sheet metal container which can be quickly and easily mounted in the container and which provides an economical resilient bearing for said drive shaft.

Other objects, uses, and advantages will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains from the drawings and the following description.

Reference should be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the sheet metal container with a portion thereof broken away to show the bearing of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary axial section through the central portion of the top head of the container showing the hand crank positioned within the central opening in the top head;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary axial section through the top head showing a closure plug closing the central opening thereof; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary top view of the container shown in Fig. 1, with a portion thereof broken away and with the hand crank removed.

Referring more particularly to the accompanying drawings, the invention is shown applied to a drum or 2,760,761 Patented Aug. 28, 1956 "ice . '2 container having a cylindrical body 1 and top and bottom heads 2 and 3 formed of sheet metal. Within the container there is mounted a rotary agitator which comprises an impeller 4 rotatably mounted upon the bottom head 3 and an operating or drive shaft 5 which is coupled at its lower end to the impeller and which extends to adjacent the top of the container so that it can be operated by any suitable external driving means, such as a hand crank 6 which may be engaged with the upper end thereof. The shaft 5 is coaxial with the cylindrical'body 1. The impeller 4 may be mounted for'rotation about the axis of the cylindrical container in any suitable manner but is preferably mounted to rotate freely upon the bottom head 3 about a central bearing 7 formed in the central portion of the bottom head coaxial with the drive shaft 5.

The impeller 4 may. beformed from a flat strip of sheet metal having opposite end portions 8 and 9 that are bent to opposite inclinations.

The top head 2 has .a central opening 10 axially aligned with the bearing 7 and with the shaft 5 and is reinforced by means of a bushing 11 that has an upright annular :or tubular portion 12 projecting down through the central opening into the container and a polygonal flange 13 at itsupper end which .is mounted in a correspondingly shaped depression 14 pressed downwardly in the top head 2 around the central opening 1'0 thereof, the top face of the flange 13 being preferably flat and flush with the top face of the head 2. A suitable packing ring 15 is interposed between the flange 13 and the depressed portion of the top head at 14 to provide an external fluid tight connection between the bushing 11 and the head 2. At the margin of its central opening 10 the top head 2 has a downwardly projecting upright annular flange 16 with a cylindrical inner surface that fits against the exterior of the tubular portion 12 of the bushing, the lower edge of the flange 16 being engaged by an outwardly turned flange 17 formed upon the lower end of the tubular portion 12 of the bushing, the flange 17 having a portion extending radially outwardly a short distance from the exterior surface of the upright flange 16.

The bushing 11 together with the inturned portions of the head 2 provide an upright downwardly projecting flange on the head, and the flange 17 projecting radially outwardly past the flange 16 and spaced from the head serves as a retaining portion for engagement with a bearing member 18 that is provided for the upper end of the shaft 5.

The drive shaft bearing member 18 of the present invention comprises a spiral coil spring of frusto-conical form having an upper substantially circular base coil 19 adapted to be sprung over the outer portion of flange 17 and having a lower substantially circular coil 20 concentric to and closely surrounding the periphery of the drive shaft 5 to form a bearing therefor. The base coil 19 of the spring hooks over the flange 17 of the bushing and grips the upright flange formed by the bushing 11 and the inturned portions of the head 2 substantially throughout the circumference thereof to provide a strong support for the spring 18. It is desirable to wedge the coil 19 between the depressed portion 14 of the top head and the flange 17 of the bushing. As herein shown the upright flange 16 has a height only slightly greater than the diameter of the wire forming the coil 19 and the outer end of flange 17 is upwardly turned so that the coil 19 is wedged between the flange 17 and the depressed portion 14 due to the contractile force exerted by the coil. The spring 18 forms an economical resilient bearing for the shaft 5 which may be readily attached to the top head 2 by springing the coil 19 over the flange 17. The rounded margin formed by the inturned edge of the flange 17 facilitates the springing of the coil 19 over the a 3 flange 17, enabling the coil to be sprung over the flange by tapping it with a hammer.

The shaft 5 is of non-circular cross section at its upper end for driving engagement with the crank socket of crank 6 and as herein shown is in the form of a square rod. This shaft is normally supported with its upper end projecting into the lower coil 20 of spring 18 and axially alined with the bushing 11 so that it can be readily engaged with the crank 6 when the crank is inserted into the central opening 10 as shown in Fig. 2. A suitable closure for the central opening 10 is provided when the crank 6 is removed. As shown in Fig. 3, the bushing 11 is internally threaded to receive a downwardly tapering threaded plug 21. The plug 21 screws into the bushing 11 and has a central recess 22 on the under side thereof to receive the upper end of the shaft 5. The plug 21 also has a wrench socket 23 opening to the upper end thereof to facilitate tightening of the plug in the bushing or removal of the plug from the bushing.

It is to be understood that in accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, variations and modifications of the specific devices herein shown and described may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

In a sheet metal container for mixing paint and/or the like having an upright cylindrical body and top and bottom heads formed of sheet metal, said heads having central axially alined drive shaft bearings therein, a circular opening formed in the center of said top head,

and a rotary agitator mounted for rotation in the bearing of the bottom head about the axis of the cylindrical body and having an upright drive shaft mounted in the bearing of the top head for rotation about said axis, said drive shaft being adapted to be rotated by an external driving member inserted through said circular opening, the improvement in bearing structure which comprises: an annular flange extending downwardly from said top head at the margin of said circular opening and concentric to said drive shaft, said flange having an upright annular portion and a retaining portion forming an annular flange means spaced from said top head and extending radially outwardly from said upright portion, and a spiral coil of frusto-conical form having an upper substantially circular base coil adapted to be sprung over said flange means from below the same and in gripping engagement with said flange substantially throughout the circumference thereof and having lower substantially circular coil means forming the central drive shaft bearing of said top head, said last-named means being concentric to and engaging the drive shaft so as to form a readily attachable bearing therefor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 375,709 Logan Dec. 27, 1887 1,168,618 Fitzsimmons Ian. 18, 1916 1,384,173 Wikander July 12, 1921 2,352,232 Strauss June 27, 1944 2,493,210 Woodman Jan. 3, 1950 

